Abbott (NYSE:ABT) saw its stock rise today after reporting earnings and sales that came in above the consensus outlook on Wall Street.
The Abbott Park, Ill.-based healthcare giant posted profits of $812 million, or 41¢ per share, on sales of $5.33 billion for the 3 months ended June 30, for a bottom-line gain of 3.3% on sales growth of 3.2%.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were 55¢, 2 pennies ahead of The Street, where revenues had been pegged at $5.24 billion.
ABT shares were up 2.2% to $42.72 apiece on the news today in mid-morning trading.
“It was a good quarter,” chairman & CEO Miles White said in prepared remarks. “We’re particularly pleased with the steady cadence of new product approvals and recent launches that are contributing to growth, including FreeStyle Libre, MitraClip, Absorb and Symfony.”
Abbott held the line on its outlook for full-year adjusted EPS, say it still expects to post $2.14 to $2.24 per share.
Abbott agreed in April to pay $25 billion for St. Jude; today, the latter said it’s suspending its guidance in light of the impending merger. Earlier this month the companies added 30 days to the expected closing date for the deal, after U.S. anti-trust regulators asked for more information on the proposed tie-up.
The $85-per-share deal consists of $46.75 in cash and 0.8708 ABT shares; at Abbott’s 5-day volume weighted average share price of $43.93 as of April 26, the buyout is worth about $25 billion. That’s a 37% premium on the closing price of $61.97 for STJ shares the day before the acquisition was revealed.
Abbott has another multi-billion-dollar deal in the works, a $5.8 billion merger with Waltham, Mass.-based diagnostics giant Alere (NYSE:ALR).
Last week, Alere cut its outlook and said it plans to filed its overdue annual report for 2015 “as soon as practicable” as it probes accounting snafus in Africa and China.
The accounting problems, plus a U.S. Justice Dept. subpoena over its dealings with 3rd-party distributors and healthcare officials in Africa, Asia and Latin America, prompted Abbott to audit Alere’s books ahead of the consummation of their $56-per-share merger.
Alere in April rejected a $50 million breakup offer from Abbott as that company’s CEO, Miles White, appeared to throw some shade on the deal. Shareholders have sued to block the acquisition.